Once again, U.S. President Obama has made an empty promise to undocumented workers and their families. It can prove to be a dangerous, vicious trap. As CHALLENGE reported, Obama took an “executive action,” declaring that certain undocumented immigrants will be given “deferred action” status for two years. In order to qualify, the person has to be 30 years old or younger; have been brought here before age 16 by an undocumented parent; have lived in the U.S. for more than 5 years; and graduated from high school or gotten a GED or been in the military.  Also, qualification depends on not having any conviction greater than an “insignificant” misdemeanor.  All applicants will be fingerprinted and subject to FBI checks.

If approved, a driver’s license and work will be permitted, but that’s all. Obama made it clear that this program will not lead to anyone getting a green card or citizen status. At the end of two years, one will have to reapply.  There will be no process for appeal if the local immigration officer denies the application.

What Obama didn’t say when he announced his plan is that because this is an “executive action,” he can change his mind at any time and just take it away, as can any future president.  Within days of Obama’s announcement, Congressman Quayle of Arizona already introduced legislation to block this program.

The viciousness of Obama’s racist program is that it holds a very tempting carrot out to young people who are desperately trying to survive. But that carrot is rotten, for it exposes that young person and their family members to the trap of unwittingly being caught for deportation. A young person registering for the program will have to disclose his or her address. Any undocumented family members living there will have no protections, and can be swept up immediately for deportation. In addition, if the program is ended at any point, the government will have the names and addresses of all of these people who are “illegal” once again.  This is the very trap that awaited Haitian immigrants who were eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) after Haiti’s earthquake. Mindful of this, few of them signed up for that program.    

The other viciousness lies in the fact that right now this program is just an announcement. There is no policy, no regulations, no forms to be filled out, no training for how to carry it out.  This too, happened once before with Obama and the consequences have been dramatic.  

Last year, racist Obama announced a new policy — the government would only deport people who had prior deportation orders or who had committed crimes.  Many people, immigration lawyers included, got very excited. Yet, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is still deporting people who have no prior deportation orders or criminal convictions. 

When challenged, ICE said (1) they were still going by the old policy as they had not yet, even nine months after the policy was announced, been given direction as to how to implement it; and (2) they considered that anyone who was here without documentation was committing a crime! It is clear that Obama is willing to make grand, idle, vicious promises to people, knowing that they will not be carried out and will pose a great danger to anyone who trusts his announcements. Overmore, it is a victim-approved fascist trap for undocumented workers. 

The reality is that the ruling class is desperate for young people to serve as bodies for their imperialist wars. Colonel Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney who served at West Point, said that the military is eager for the Dream Act because immigrant children are perfect soldiers. They are compliant with orders, don’t complain and don’t cause trouble.

Imperialist warmonger Obama is doing Colonel Stock one better.  He has announced a trap that will both steer young immigrants into the military (because even if they are able to get protection under his program, most won’t be able to find jobs), and get names and addresses of their undocumented families who he and future presidents can round up and deport.

A system that can’t provide for the well-being of all does not deserve to exist. We must continue our fight for communist revolution, for only then will people not be categorized as “legal” and “illegal.”  Only then will workers be guaranteed work to live their lives as truly productive, creative human beings. Smash all borders, Workers of the World Unite!

NEW YORK CITY, NY, July 18 — “While profits soar, Con Ed takes the food out of our children’s mouths!“ read the sign of one UWUA (Utility Workers’ Union of America) Local 1-2 worker, locked out by the Consolidated Edison utility company. The bosses will continue to steal food from our families until workers bring forth a communist society, where we all get what we need. 

Con Ed locked out their 8,500 workers and is using 5,000 managers as scabs.Con Ed had engineers teach contractors how to do the work two months before the lockout. 

Workers Must Fight Back Against Scabs, Cops, Bosses

At the Rye, NY location, workers have physically stopped scab trucks from entering. Con Ed filed an injunction to prevent no more than four workers picketing at any single location and at a certain distance from the location.

Teamsters’ drivers, who make truck deliveries to Con Ed, have refused to cross picket lines with four or more workers. On Sunday night, the workers stopped a delivery of an electrical transformer in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. This could lead to blackouts. There is no capital work going on; workers in Bensonhurst are still preventing the delivery of emergency generators. 

The union made a call for all workers who were pregnant, on dialysis, on chemo or other such conditions to come out to Union Square in Manhattan. The next day, Con Ed gave back healthcare they took away two days into the lockout.

Unite Against Racist Cuts

PLP has been on the picket lines everyday since the lockout. In one picket location, several workers didn’t want an anti-racist sign posted up on the police barricades and complained that the lockout had nothing to do with racism. A PL’er, the spouse of one of the workers, argued that the cuts Con Ed demanded were in fact racist since the greatest cuts came when the workforce became more black and Latino. The Con Ed workers weren’t convinced and the comrade asked if the new workers don’t deserve the same benefits as the traditionally Italian workers that dominated the workforce in decades past. Ashamed, the workers who opposed to the anti-racist sign allowed the PL’er to put it up. We still struggle with our friends to agree that these attacks are racist.

Many workers on the picket lines are convinced that following the rules and abiding by law is the right thing to do. When a PL’er said cops keep the workers out and scabs in, one worker insisted that the cops are only doing their jobs. When days later cops harassed workers about having a barbeque grill and sitting in the shade instead of being in the sun, the union stewards asked workers to oblige. But one worker protested, saying, “We didn’t win pensions by following the law. Workers didn’t get benefits by following the law. We had to fight for it.” The bosses own the courts and kkkops. Relying on worker’s power is our only winning strategy.

Gutting the Union

Con Ed is making record profits but they presented a contract to break the union: no guaranteed pension, lower wages and paying more for health benefits. Current employees would pay for their retirement by selling out new members who, after 30 years of service, will get a measly $800 monthly retirement benefit. Local 1-2 said no to this offer. Con Ed said the union needed to give two weeks notice if they wanted to strike. Local 1-2 said no. 

When the ruling class can gut the pensions of some workers, all workers suffer. But this struggle is about more than just pay and benefits. It is a struggle for power.

Under capitalism the bosses have all the money and control the courts, cops and contracts. Capitalist competition forces bosses to get richer or go under. Ultimately, even if we “win” this contract fight, the bosses will attack us again, whether it’s the current Con Ed CEO Burke or some other capitalist exploiter. But the bosses can’t replace our labor! Workers can run the world without bosses but realign the bosses cannot live or get rich without us.

By fighting for more militancy, building a movement to destroy capitalism and develop workers power — communism — we can move forward, no matter what the outcome of this contract struggle. 

The Only Long-Term Winning Strategy for Workers is Communism 

The union has two sayings: “When we go out, the lights go out” and “Whatever it takes.” It’s the rank-and-file workers who will really show NY what these phrases mean by physically confronting management and scabs. 

Ultimately, only communism can really be a future for the working class. By eliminating the profit motive, we would be able to improve crucial infrastructure, clean utilities (water, gas, electric) and make sure the only lights that go out are on the bosses.

When Egypt’s working class joined the Arab Spring rebellion last year, it shook up the country’s ruling class. Workers in transportation, textiles, and the cement industry, along with those operating the Suez Canal, struck for a living wage and jobs for youth. It was only then that the rulers were forced to pay attention to the rebellion, which helped lead to dictator Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. But there was no revolution, because capitalism remained. Political power remained in the hands of the same bosses, in this case the group of generals who also held enormous economic power.

Unfortunately, the uprising lacked communist working-class politics. Consequently, as CHALLENGE said at the time, workers in Egypt would face continued oppression from either Mubarak’s pro-U.S. military or the al Qaeda-linked Muslim Brotherhood. That is exactly what happened. Today, after an indecisive Egyptian election, we see the generals and Islamists struggling for power. Neither side represents workers. Just as in Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney, electoral politics is proving a lethal distraction for our class.

Under capitalism, the bosses as a class control the state apparatus in every country worldwide. When the workers rise in class struggle against the rulers, the latter feel threatened and champion the fraud of reform. But capitalism cannot be reformed. The bosses will never give up their power peacefully. Egypt’s Arab Spring proves this, yet again.

Egypt’s Internal Dogfight: Free Market vs. State Capitalism

Muslim Brother Mohamed Morsi’s dubious “victory” over Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) reflects an enduring bosses’ dogfight. As the Egypt Independent (EI) reported on February 15:

The military trial of Brotherhood members in 2006 to 2007 was only the result of underlying competition between two groups that controlled capital in Egypt, namely between Gamal’s group [Mubarak’s son] and the Brotherhood. All of those who stood trial were leading businessmen in the Brotherhood, the most important of whom was Khairat al-Shater. Consequently, more than 70 companies owned by the Brotherhood were shut down. 

The primary split in Egypt is between the religious bosses of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party’s (FJP) and the generals who favor state control of the economy. Multi-millionaire Khairat al-Shater, Morsi’s top bankroller, owns a string of high-end furniture and carpet shops. The FJP’s platform reads in part, “Economic activity is to be conducted in conformance with Islamic market mechanisms, which depend on fair competition...without manipulation or monopoly.... The state will have a decentralized role” (EI, 2/15/12). This free-market outlook has put the Muslim Brotherhood in the crosshairs of Mubarak’s generals, who view the state apparatus as their personal ATM and attack the millionaire Muslims.

Generals Are the Victors

The fight goes on. Morsi, Egypt’s first “democratically elected” president, is more a figurehead in a government where the military still pulls the main strings. The SCAF dissolved parliament before the elections and claims the right to fill key cabinet posts, including defense and treasury. “Egypt’s leading generals ...have emerged as the election’s actual victors because they are poised to remain in charge of the country for the foreseeable future” (New York Times, 6/30/12). So stated Joshua Stacher, a Kent State professor, who knows a thing or two about the bosses’ violent military suppression of dissent. [The U.S. National Guard killed four anti-Vietnam War protesters at Kent State in 1970.]

Egypt’s geopolitical significance makes its foreign relations crucial in the sharpening global rivalry among imperialists. U.S. rulers depend on Egypt’s compliance to get continued access to the Suez Canal, the passageway for vast amounts of oil and other critical resources. They also need Egypt to reaffirm its commitment to peace with Israel and to refrain from spreading Arab spring unrest into strategic Bahrain or oil-rich Saudi Arabia. To guarantee these imperatives, the U.S. is contributing $1.3 billion in annual aid to Cairo’s shaky new military/Islamic regime. The U.S. capitalists cannot feel entirely comfortable, however, with Morsi’s election and what it might imply for Egypt’s future. “[T]he rise to power of the Brotherhood in the Arab world’s most populous nation would unnerve Gulf Arab monarchies which have managed to avoid being swept away by an Arab Spring that has also toppled leaders in Tunis, Libya and Yemen” (Reuters, 6/18/12).

But so far so good for U.S. rulers, at least for now. In his inauguration speeches, Morsi vowed to abide by international agreements regarding the Suez Canal and Israel and declared that Egyptians “do not export revolution.” Morsi also supports the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad, Iran’s and Russia’s anti-U.S. stooge.

Anthony Cordesman, who leads military strategizing at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a top U.S. ruling-class think tank, said: “In the near term, it seems unlikely that the election will have a major impact on U.S. and Egyptian relations; the Egyptian military remains too strong, there is no legislature, and the new Muslim Brotherhood president will concentrate on domestic issues” (Associated Press, 6/24/12). However, Cordesman added, “The midterm is far more uncertain and the long term is totally unpredictable.”

Washington Fears A Cairo-Teheran Alliance

Bearing out such unpredictability, Iran’s Fars news agency quoted Morsi as saying that a closer relationship with Tehran would create a “strategic balance” in the region, according to Voice of America (6/25/12). And the Brotherhood’s al Qaeda ties remain problematic. Mohamed Atta, ringleader of the 9/11 massacre, hailed from Egypt. Jonathan Evans, head of Britain’s MI5 (the British FBI), noted that “would-be jihadis are known to be receiving training in the likes of Libya and Egypt, mirroring what has already happened in Yemen and Somalia” (London Telegraph, 6/25/12). As Afghan workers know only too well, U.S. rulers and their allies consider any nation harboring al Qaeda to be fair game for full-scale invasion.

The anti-worker dogfight between two groups of capitalists in Egypt is what happens when communists are not in the leadership of a political movement. A rebellion quickly deteriorates into just another settlement between two opposing factions of bosses. State power never changes hands. Regardless of which faction wins, exploitation of the working class continues.

It is only when communists lead a working-class uprising, with the goal of smashing the state power of the capitalist ruling class, that true revolution occurs. This is why Progressive Labor Party enters and leads class struggle: to win workers to see that only by destroying the bosses’ state power, profits, and exploitation can a workers’ society be born. That is the task of PL’ers in all the bosses’ mass organizations. Building PLP in the class struggle is the only road to true victory for the working class.

JOHNSTOWN, PA. July 2 — Last week, two white Johnstown KKKops opened fire on a group of unarmed black men, killing one, Rasheed Simms, and seriously wounding another, Lontell King. Though these mad dog cops had no real reason for murdering and wounding these black men, they were placed on paid leave until a so-called investigation could determine if they acted with excessive force — as though killing a guy could be labeled anything else.

The people did not take this lying down. While the local media is attempting to sweep this murder under the rug, on June 30 there was a militant anti-racist, multi-racial protest against the actions of these Killer Kops, calling for justice for the two victims. The wounded man was at the protest and showed his wound to the local news station. One young black man stated that the whole incident was caused by racism and most agreed with him.

Racism is no stranger to this city. It’s been reported that the local Klan has nine Klaverns in the Johnstown area. However, anti-racism is no stranger either. Some years ago, when the local Klan attempted to hold a rally in Johnstown’s Central Park, they were driven from the park by a group of multi-racial protestors.

Johnstown is not a large city but due to the closing of most steel mills, there aren’t many decent-paying jobs. The black community has been especially hard hit. The unemployment rate for black youth is quite high, and the police force is clearly racist.

Two CHALLENGE readers at the rally made the point that incidents like this were the product of growing U.S. fascism. Of course, the killing of black and Latino men by the cops takes place throughout this capitalist-imperialist society. This is all part and parcel of life in the capitalist U.S. It will take a communist revolution led by the PLP to put an end to racism and this sort of racist murder.